A Shot From The Kremlin

April 13, 1985

Warsaw Pact sources in Western Europe are whispering that the Soviet army sentry who shot a U.S. Army major to death last month in East Germany is under arrest and may be punished.

The Soviets, it appears, are eager to convince the United States that Maj. Arthur Nicholson`s murder was an isolated case of over-reaction by the soldier, who had caught Maj. Nicholson photographing a military facility that the U.S. contends was not restricted.

Soviets military officers are stressing it was merely a case of a young and inexperienced trooper panicking and reaching for his gun too quickly, one source told Reuters news agency.

But Moscow can`t stick the blame solely on a breach of discipline by a solitary Soviet trooper. The real culprits are the Kremlin xenophobes who long ago perfected the art of injecting dangerous doses of paranoia deep in the Russian soul.